Jupiter
and Saturn: Quality Jumps

In January and February, 2003, we obtained video images of Saturn and
Jupiter
for the first time with the 14-inch Celestron telescope at Bethune-CookmanCollege,
using an Orion 'color electronic eyepiece' and a 13-inch TV
monitor. The
images were promising but video recordings made therefrom refused to
yield
acceptable still pictures. In early 2004, using a newer,
battery-powered
Orion camera, we obtained videotapes providing stills as well as
computer-captured images of the two planets; but the images were
mediocre even
with good 'seeing' and the telescope behaving itself. An account
of these
efforts are at the B-CC
Observatory website.

As I was applying improved image-processing skills, with Photoshop, to
the 2004
videography, we had an order in to Polaris Industries for a DX-8263SL
camera,
which has twice the spatial resolution of the Orion camera, integrating
capability up to 2 seconds, and several other new features. It
arrived in
May and I shifted to learning to use it, which required
deciphering
Pidgen English and numerous acronyms in the short instruction
manual.
(I'm still struggling with some of this material.) The solar
transit of
Venus in early June distracted us (no objections!), but on the 18th we
obtained
Polaris video images and taped (VHS) recordings of Jupiter, rather low
in a
murky western sky soon after dusk. The live images were decidedly
the
best to date and yielded pretty good stills; see the first set
following this
text. The large picture is from images enlarged with the camera's
digital
zoom. We knew that a clearer, darker sky, smarter use of the
camera, and
better imaging and recording facilities (e.g. S-video camera output,
computer
intake) would give better results. But for Jupiter, and
Saturn,
this would have to wait until the beginning of 2005.

The payoff was slow, due we believe, to telescope problems --mainly
corrector
plate dewing-- and incorrect camera settings, but on March 5 we
obtained good
images of Saturn and inner moons including Enceladus. A raw still
of the
planet and a processed picture from a manual stack of frames are
reproduced in
the second set following this text, and a third graphic shows the
moons.
On April 22 we had another good session with this planet; the fourth
graphic
below compares processed stacks of 8 still frames from this and the
March 5
session. For all of these observations we connected the camera's
output
to the observatory's PowerMac computer and displayed the images with
the Apple
Video Player. Some still frames were captured using Flash-It, and
short
video 'strips' were made as well so we could get numerous high-quality
frames.

Jupiter had moved to western Virgo and wasn't well up in the evening
sky until
the spring of 2005. Our first good observation of the planet came
on May
6 and was a winner. The Great Red Spot was conspicuous near the
central
meridian, and we watched and recorded its positions for two hours as it
approached the 'off' limb. Processed stills from the
computer-captured
video are shown in the last picture set below. The middle picture
approaches the quality of many, made with similar equipment and level
of
processing, published in the popular astronomy literature. The Saturn
pictures
are close too. We have a way to go but we know how to get there.

Notes to Pictures

Saturn's moons: Enceladus's image is so strong on raw frames, at
less
than maximum camera sensitivity, that getting Mimas at greatest
elongation and
in a very good sky, appears feasible.

Jupiter on 6/18/04: The oval dark spot on the south equatorial
belt,
approaching the central meridian, was variable in structure and
contrast in raw
images. Some had several tiny black spots around the oval's
periphery,
others only two or three, some none. But pixel flaws are present
so I
cannot claim this phenomenon was real Jovian activity in a period of
under 20
minutes.